


Nailed It!

by happydaygirl



Category: Nailed It! (TV), The Old Guard (Comics), The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: Cake, Family Rivalry, Gen, Humour, M/M, Nailed It! AU, Team as Family, i have no idea what this even is..., post movie but booker is still with the team
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-22
Updated: 2021-02-23
Packaged: 2021-03-12 11:22:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,175
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29633892
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/happydaygirl/pseuds/happydaygirl
Summary: Upon huge insistence from Nicky and Nile, the team appear on the popular Netflix show Nailed It. It goes as well as anyone would expect.
Relationships: Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova
Comments: 20
Kudos: 45





	1. Chapter 1

Andy was dreaming, she was sure of it. This had to be some sort of fever dream. She breathed a heavy sigh as a cameraman threw her and the others a cheerful thumbs-up, signalling the recording was about to start. _Pity all their material would go “strangely” missing from their archives tonight…_ she thought wryly to herself, her only consolation as she saw Nile excitedly jiggle on the spot as they heard Nicole’s voice start to boom around the room they were about to walk into.

They all had only agreed to take part in the show because both Nile and Nicky had got addicted to it whilst watching re-runs on Netflix at their safehouse when they were between cases. Nile was so damn excited about it it was infectious; even Andy- after being forced to watch endless episodes when she would rather be doing something productive- was starting to get into it. And she had developed something of a soft spot for Wes.

She looked up as yet another man (she assumed the director) now ushered them forwards; they strode through the rapidly opening door, not exactly knowing what was to come…

‘Bonjour ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to Nailed it!’ Nicole was speaking to the camera, her broad smile making Nile fizz with excitement.

‘This is the baking show where, instead of proclaiming _Le Magnifique,_ we are inevitably going to be crying into our cupcakes saying _La Vache!_ Today, for our French-themed episode we are joined by not three, but FOUR hopeful bakers- yes, four! We are really pushing the boat out for you today, my friends! Lets meet them!’

The cameraman moved towards Nile, who stared a little wide-eyed at the camera as Nicole came closer.

‘Hey, Nile!’ She beamed, smiling over at her. ‘You into baking?’

‘I love to bake, but sometimes they don’t come out….quite right…’ she threw a sheepish glance at Nicky and Joe, who both snorted and averted their eyes.

‘Do you guys all know each other?’ Nicole looked over, her smile growing. ‘Ooh, we have a family show, folks! Pitting friend against friend, I love it!’ She turned and walked to Andy, who tried to stop the muscle jumping in her jaw (something it always did when she was out of her comfort zone) as she came closer.

‘Andy, how are you today! What’s Andy short for? Andrea?’ Nicole asked, voice inquisitive.

‘Andromache.’ Andy replied somewhat stiffly, but she couldn’t help but smile at Nicole’s surprised expression.

‘Wow! Beautiful name! Very historical-sounding! Your parent’s were history buffs, right?’

‘Something like that, yeah…’ Andy conceded, letting out a relaxed breath as Nicole now turned to Nicky, who was already fiddling with the Ipad on the desk.

‘Not yet, not yet!’ Nicole grinned, pretending to slap his hand away. ‘Don’t want you finding the recipe and getting an advantage there!’ She smiled. ‘How’s your baking, Nicky?’

‘-Perfect, sublime.’ Joe answered from the next counter over, voice sincere. ‘You should try his Baklava.’

‘Ooooh!’ Nicole squeaked, laughing. ‘Looks like you’ve got yourself a fan over there, Nicky!’

‘You have no idea….’ Nicky grinned, before watching as Nicole now turned to Joe, who smiled broadly at her as she came to a stop by his desk.

‘So, Joe, how would you rate your baking?’

‘Its ok, passable.’ Joe shrugged. ‘I am more of a bread man.’

‘Too bad we don’t have a bread- baking section!’ Nicole huffed, before shaking her head and patting Joe on the shoulder. ‘Give it a go, how bad can you be?!’ she grinned, before moving away and talking some more to the camera. Joe cast a look at Nicky, who replied with a small shrug.

‘Now!’ Nicole boomed, now back at her seat with two men either side of her. ‘As always we have world-renowned chef Jacques- who must feel right at home with our French cuisine special- who will be able to help any of our bakers when they need it! And, we have a guest judge today, who mysteriously goes by a name that sounds like a surname….everyone say hello to Booker!’

The other four looked up as Booker smiled and saluted the camera; they had all known he was going to be the judge (He had been able to pull some strings with the production team) but seeing him in the flesh, sat all suited up at the big desk, nearly sent Nile into a fit of giggles.

‘Oh my my my….today I am surrounded by not one, but two gorgeous French gentleman; I may swoon!’ Nicole gasped, looking from Jacques to Booker dramatically. ‘Why aren’t you down there with your pals?’ she asked, frowning.

‘I wouldn’t like to pair up with anyone and give them an unfair advantage…’ Booker shrugged, a smile playing on his lips. ‘I am French, after all.’

‘Oooh, I wonder who has the frenchier accent between your two!? We will find out once the round is underway…..as we start our French odyssey into the land of the baguette, the Eiffel tower and….the Macarons!’ she finished the sentence with a warble, pointing towards a large door. It opened with a flourish of glitter and smoke, revealing four plates of differently coloured Macarons.

‘Welcome to Baker’s Choice-When I say, you can all come up and choose whichever colour cake you want- you will then have 50 minutes to recreate the dessert!’ Nicole beamed. ‘Well, then?!’ she said after a few beats when nobody moved. ‘Gooooo!!’

Nile grinned as she and Nicky rushed forwards first, grabbing the red and yellow plates respectively, before running back as Joe and Andy moved forwards, concern peppering Joe’s face as he looked down at his plate of pink cakes. He loved cooking cakes, as in big cakes. Birthday cakes and things like that- not piddly little dainty creations like this….

‘Your time has started!’ Nicole yelled out- Joe looked up to see the other three studying the recipes on their Ipads in varying degrees of hopelessness…Nicky and Nile were practically beaming as they began moving to the larder for their ingredients, whilst Andy was still at her station, frowning at the ipad as she read down the list.

‘Okay…’ he muttered to himself, shaking himself a little. ‘How hard can this be?’

* * *

‘You have ten minutes left!’ Nicole yelled out into the clamour in front of her. ‘Ten minutes!’ She turned to Booker, who was grinning at Andy as she waited impatiently at her oven door; he could tell by the way that she was tapping her foot that she wasn’t happy.

‘We need to have our French off!’ she beamed at him, before moving her seat back so he and Jacques were looking at each other.

‘Now, you’ll repeat the phrase I am about to give you, and I will judge who has the sexiest French accent, ready?’

‘Ready.’ They both said in unison, voices hitched as to what she was about to say.

‘Here it is- Voulez-vous coucher avec moi, ce soir ?’ she cackled, raising her hands to her face in delight, pretending to blush as first Jacques, then Booker repeated the phrase in their most sultry accents possible.

‘Oooh, now I’ve gone all wibbly and hot!’ she cried, laughing and shaking her head as she wafted her hand in front of her face. ‘I just can’t choose, I choose you both!’ she laughed, before turning back to the four bakers, who were now starting to get their bakes out of the oven.

‘Nile, what’s that smell?’ she called, wrinkling her nose and laughing as Nile set down her smoking baking tray. ‘Are they burned?!’

‘Ahhh…no, no! of course not!’ Nile batted away her words playfully. ‘Just a little singed around the edges!’

‘Well that’s ok then!’ Nicole replied with a snort. ‘Now remember you need to have made your buttercream already in order to fill your Macarons and assemble together on your plate. You now only have FIVE MINUTES so get a move oooon!!’

‘Why did I agree to this…’ Andy muttered under her breath as she felt a bead of sweat run down her temple as she carefully squeezed out a portion of buttercream to her green-tinged cakes. It globbed out thickly, spattering her hand as she placed it back down. ‘That’ll do.’ She told herself, putting her hands on her hips as she stepped back to admire her ‘handiwork.’

Nicky, obviously, was having the most luck. He considered himself the main ‘baker’ in the group- he enjoyed the chemistry involved, the journey baker and ingredients took together to create something beautiful. He knew how to mix the wet and dry ingredients out properly, and to bang the tray on the side to take out the air bubbles….he was more than well-versed on the components to create the perfect macarons.

What he wasn’t versed on was the electric mixer and caterer’s ovens they had in the studio. It had taken him an age to work on how to turn the stand mixer on, let alone how long he should mix for…it didn’t even occur to him to mix it by hand; under the lights and pressure of the camera all logic had fled from his brain. He had been one of the last to put his tray in the oven; he could see some were only half-cooked in there. He would need to take them out soon or he would have nothing to show…

Joe had given up as soon as he had started piping them onto the baking paper- the recipe said perfect circles, not too close together, but he had never been any good at using piping bags. After accidentally losing his grip on his bag and having the whole mixture drip onto his hands he had taken to just spooning the mixture onto the tray, cringing a little as Nicole gasped dramatically and Jacques had lamented his choice of method. He would show them… (he hoped.)

‘You have two minutes! Two minutes to plate up and put the lid on your plates so we can judge them!’ Nicole yelled, her voice reverberating round the room.

* * *

‘Five, four, three, two…You’re done!’ Nicole yelled, signalling the end of the round. Joe stepped back, a huge sigh of relief hitting his body. It was over.

He looked over to Andy, who had a positively murderous expression on her face. He couldn’t wait to see what her macarons turned out like.

‘Ok bakers, let’s see what you have for us!’ Nicole, now joined by Booker and Jacques, stepped down from their desk and trooped down to them; they stopped at Nile first.

She couldn’t withold her giggles as she unveiled her plate. ‘Nailed it!’ she cried, grinning as the three judges looked down in surprise and mock-shock at her plate.

‘Wow!’ Nicole gasped, shaking her head. ‘They are so burned!’ she let out a guffaw as they took in her black, charred Macarons.

‘You left them in the oven way too long!’ Jacques explained, humour dripping from his voice.

‘If I ate them I’d probably die!’ Booker quipped, snorting as he looked down at the poor offering.

‘We are contractually obliged to try each creation, so….Imma just nibble this bit here….’ Nicole took a tentative bite, nodding her head sarcastically as Nile tried not to laugh. ‘Delicious….’ She muttered, before making a show of swallowing her mouthful. ‘Well, we can’t stay here all day- more macaroons to try! Byeee!’

Andy stepped back as they came closer. She took hold of the lid of her covering and, with one swoop, drew it upwards and away. ‘Nailed it!’ she said, catching Booker’s eye as the all looked down at her…well….anaemic looking macarons.

‘Did you put any colour into them?’ Jacques asked, looking down. ‘They still look white!’

‘I think it all….melted away?’ Andy offered, nonplussed herself. She had put nearly a whole bottle of food colouring in.

‘Let’s hope they taste good!’ Nicole shrugged, before taking the largest macaroon and taking a big bite- after chewing for a few seconds her face suddenly erupted into an expression of utter disgust. ‘Napkin!’ she gasped, fanning her face as she shoved the cake into the side of her mouth. ‘I need a napkin!’

She turned as Jacques offered her a napkin, where she swiftly deposited her mouthful. ‘Andy!’ she gasped, letting out a pained laugh as Andy looked over at her, wide eyed.

‘Did you- did you put salt in there instead of sugar?!’ she cried, snorting as Booker let out a laugh of his own.

 _Oh no_. She was in such a hurry in the larder that perhaps she hadn’t read the label properly. Her hand flew to her mouth, not to hide dismay but to hide a smile that was threatening to come through as Nicole made a show of wiping her tongue.

‘Well, thank you SO MUCH for that, it was….lovely! Au Revoir!’ Nicole laughed, before they headed to Nicky, who had been watching the scene unfold with his mouth open.

‘This better taste good!’ Nicole warned him with a laugh. Nicky swallowed somewhat nervously as he unveiled his creation. ‘Nailed it!’

‘Okaaay….’ Nicole stood back, considering. ‘They’re all colourful, all the same size….lets try em!’

Nicky drew in a deep breath as all three judged took a Macarons and bit into them; his relief was palpable as everyone, even Booker, all chewed without screwing their faces up. On the contrary, they seemed to be enjoying them.

‘This is good!’ Nicole appraised, beaming over at him. ‘The taste is there, and the texture is really amazing! And you made them with sugar, not salt!’

‘Always a plus…’ Booker grinned, catching Andy’s eye again- he snorted as she gave him the middle finger, happily outside the view of the camera.

‘Technically sound, and they taste perfect!’ Jacques smiled, nodding over at him. ‘Well done!’

‘Thank you!’ Nicky replied, stepping back on slightly shaking legs as they crossed over, finally, to Joe.

He knew what was coming.

‘So Joe, our last contestant! Lets see what you’ve made for us!’

Joe steeled himself. He lifted the cover with a flourish, a smile already on his face as he unveiled his creation. ‘Nailed it!’

‘WHAT?!’ Nicole yelled, eyes wide as she let out another loud laugh. ‘It’s a macaroon monster!’

Joe grinned as he looked down at his work- turned out spooning the mixture wasn’t the way to go. All it did was create one huge, glutinous batter that melded together into a large, colourless, shapeless mess.

‘Where do we even start?!’ Nicole cried, wiping tears from her eyes as she and the others looked down.

‘Uhh…a knife?’ Jacques proffered with a shrug. He took a knife from the side and awkwardly cut the blob into a few pieces.

They each chewed for a few seconds, considering the taste.

‘Doesn’t taste that bad…’ Booker nodded. ‘Tastes good.’

‘Thank you, Booker.’ Joe nodded with a smile.

‘More buttercream would have been good, but its not bad at all!’ Jacques smiled, while Nicole nodded her agreement as she took another piece.

‘Now we have to decide who to crown with our golden chefs hat- that person also gets a special prize!’ She announced, before they walked back to the desk, Joe’s tray of macaroons in Nicole’s hands.

* * *

‘Bakers, we have made our choice- please stand in a line while we announce the winner of the round!’ Nicole yelled. Andy joined the others in front of their areas with already a pretty good idea of who was going to win in her mind.

‘Wes!’ Andy smiled as Nicole called for her assistant. This was the only good thing about being here, she thought to herself. ‘Where is Wes?! Weeeeeees! Oh, there you are! Please hand me the golden hat!’ she ordered the curly haired man, who stepped closer with a deadpanned look on his face as he handed her the hat.

‘Thank you, Wes! Oh what a lovely man!’ She chuckled, holding it against her tightly.

‘While only two of you managed to make actual edible offerings to us, we only needed to consider Joe and Nicky!’ Jacques said, clapping his hands together. ‘It was a tough choice, but in the end there was only one winner-

‘NICKY!’ the three of them called in unison. A smile spread over Nicky’s face as Nicole strode over to him and crowned him with the golden chef’s hat.

‘And here is your prize- a stand mixer!’ Nicole grinned as they watched Wes stroll in with a large stand-mixer, sparkly and new, on a trolley.

‘Thank you so much!’ He smiled, despite knowing he would probably never use it. Nile could have it for her ‘creations’, he decided.

‘Right-‘ Nicole clapped her hands. ‘Time for our next round! Its called Nailed it or Failed it- go big or go home, right?!’

Joe, Nicky, Andy and Nile all shared a look between them. They knew what was coming. What fresh hell awaited them in the next round?


	2. Chapter 2

‘This next round is called Nail it or Fail it- don’t forget, the winner of this round wins the grand prize of $10,000!’ Nicole boomed into the camera, jangling her bracelets in anticipation as the four bakers looked on. They were all stood in a line facing a giant door, which Nile knew housed an almost impossible cake that they would be expected to recreate; she wondered what it was. She stole a look at Booker, who winked at her as he tried to withhold a smile; damn him for not at least telling _her_ what they were going to face.

‘As today is a special French episode we knew we had to honour the great culture that our French cousins bring to the table- so we had a look through history and decided that today we would like you to recreate a piece of art!’ she laughed as Nile, Andy, Joe and Nicky all turned to the three judged with wide eyes.

‘But its not a painting!’ she teased as she motioned the door. ‘Its not mural! It’s a……’ she threw her arms out to signal the opening of the door.

‘You have got to be kidding me…’ Andy breathed, while Joe let out a panicked laugh and Nicky nearly sank backwards into the table behind him.

‘Sculpture!!’ Nicole cried, as she and the others walked towards the opened door, which held a stand with a cake sitting atop it.

‘Say hello to The Thinker!’ she added, wafting her hands at the intricate creation on the table. ‘Created by renowned French sculpture Rodin, who is thought of as the father of modern sculpture, this philosophical looking gentleman’s torso and head is made from rice crispie treats, whilst the rest of his body and the stone he is sitting on is created by vanilla sponge covered with fondant. Don’t forgot to have his hand resting on his chin, as it shows he is deep in thought! You have two hours to complete him!’

She looked over to the bakers, who were all still staring at the statue with their mouths open.

‘Go! You have two hours, no time to waste!’ she screeched, jolting them all out of their reverie.

‘Two hours!?’ Nile croaked, swallowing nervously.

‘Don’t worry guys, we’ve got you covered!’ Nicole cried as they all ran to their sections, already flicking through the recipe on their ipads and staring down at the instructions.

‘You all still have your panic buttons on your stations- if any of you need help press them and Jacques will run over to give you a hand! But we will give one of you a special helping hand…Andy, seeing as you made such, uh, delicious, Macarons last time, we will give you a special button, which I like to call the Painting button! Simply press it, and the other three contestants have to stop and start painting each other on the easels in the corner over there while you get some help!’ she pointed to where three easels were set up.

‘If you do that Joe will never go back to the baking!’ Nile cried, barking out a laugh as she ran to the pantry to gather her supplies.

Nicky wiped his suddenly sweaty brow- he had never sculpted a cake before. This was going to be a disaster…but then, this was the point of the show. He just hated doing things wrong. He took a deep breath to calm himself, and then ran alongside Nile to be the first to get the flour before the others stole it all.

* * *

‘You should now have your cakes in the oven, and should all be getting your decorations ready!’ Nicole yelled, beaming over at all the contestants as they paced anxiously back and forth in front of their ovens.

‘How in hell are we supposed to decorate this?’ Andy muttered, shaking her head as she looked at the lamp of fondant on the table in front of her. Her cakes had mercifully seemed to go well, and she triple checked to make sure she was adding sugar instead of salt this time. But she had never decorated a cake before in her life, and that was really saying something considering how long she had been alive.

‘Oh, what the hell…’ she finally decided, slamming her hand down on the painting button- a klaxon sounded overhead and Nicole and Jacques both started to scream like they’d been electrocuted.

‘EVERYONE STOP BAKING! GO START PAINTING YOUR PORTAIIITS!’ Nicole yelled out, pointing over to the painting area. ‘You have three minutes!

‘If my cakes burn in there I will hold you personally responsible!’ Nile teased her as she jogged past Andy’s table, before joining Nicky and Joe at the easels.

‘Its not even good paint…’ Joe lamented as he dipped a thick paintbrush into a pot of poster paint and splodged it onto the paper.

‘Come on guys, I need to see masterpieces over there!’ Nicole yelled, leaning over the desk to get a better view.

Meanwhile Jacques had bounded over to Andy, who was stood with one hand on her hip, gesticulating at the fondant.

‘How am I going to do this?’ she asked, shrugging.

‘First I would make the torso and head and arm with the rice crispie treats while your cakes are in the oven, and then cut your cakes into the shape of a stone and body one you have filled them with the buttercream. Then, roll out your fondant and drape over the cake, making sure to smooth it out so it looks perfect!’

‘Ah, so simple!’ Andy replied, nodding over to the Frenchman. ‘Thanks!’ she added, her smile falling as soon as Jacques turned away. This was going to be terrible.

‘Your three minutes are up! Wow, those portraits are AWFUL, guys!’ she cried, laughing hysterically.

‘If I had the proper tools I could show you a good portrait…’ Joe grumbled as he threw down the paintbrush, before chuckling as Nicky inspected his portrait, which made him look like a blob in a sea of green. ‘I love it!’ Nicky consoled, before he too laughed and they ran back to their stations, hoping their cakes hadn’t burn to a crisp whilst they were gone.

* * *

‘Five….four….three…two…..one….YOU’RE DONE!’ Nicole yelled as another Klaxon sounded overhead.

Nile stepped away from her cake as she pulled up the frosted glass door that she would remove to show what she had done.

‘Oh I can’t WAIT to see what you’ve created!’ Nicole squealed as she, Booker and Jacques moved to Nile’s section.

‘Me neither…’ Booker smiled, anticipation rising as Nile grinned over at him.

‘Okay Nile, so….reveal your Thinker!’ Nicole cried, eyes wide.

‘Nailed it!’ Nile said as she removed the screen. Her eyes widened as The Man’s head suddenly fell off its neck and rolled onto the floor at Booker’s feet.

‘Oh noooo! He got decapitated!’ Nicole cried, laughing hysterically as the poor man’s arm was the next to fall, landing with a thud on the plate.

‘Nile! You killed him!’ Jacques laughed, wiping a tear of mirth from his eyes. ‘Your rice crispie treats are way too thin and it couldn’t support its own weight!’

Nile couldn’t speak; she was too busy trying not to laugh as her poor sculpture sagged dangerously on its plate.

‘Lets taste him!’ Nicole surged forwards nonetheless. They each took a small forkful and chewed contemplatively.

‘Its good!’

‘Very delicate vanilla taste.’

‘Its actually not that bad….’ Booker followed with a smile, nodding at Nile.

‘Thank you!’

‘We have to move on now, but thank you Nile!’ Nicole beamed, before they moved on to a distinctly harassed looking Andy.

‘Andy! Lets see your version of The Thinker, shall we?’

Andy tensed as she removed her frosted glass screen. ‘Nailed it!’ she muttered, wincing slightly at the sight.

‘Whoaaaa…..’ Nicole breathed, before dissolving into laughs at the sight. ‘What happened with the fondant!?’

‘I don’t know…it must be deficient in some way….’ Andy shrugged, earning a snort from Booker that she dearly wanted to answer with a middle finger.

‘The fondant is rolled out way too thick- it needs to be much much thinner so its draped over the cake and then smoothed out to create the shape,’ Jacques explained, a wide smile on his face. The man looked more like a brown alien blob, devoid of any discernible shape or feature.

‘Is there any cake under there?!’ Booker asked, grinning.

‘I hope so, or its walked off somewhere…’ Andy answered tartly- her mouth quivered as Nicole let out another infections belly laugh.

‘Well, I’m excited to delve in and try it!’ she shrugged, taking up and fork and using it to hook out some of the fondant so she could get to the cake.

Again they all chewed in silence, their faces not giving anything away as Andy and the others watched with baited breath.

‘You know what…. I like it!’ Nicole finally said, nodding to herself as she swallowed. ‘Not as vanilla-ry as the last one, but very light and fluffy! My mouth doesn’t hate it this time!’

‘At least there’s not cupfuls of salt in it!’ Booker nodded, grinning as he took another forkful.

‘The presentation isn’t working for me, but if it was a competition for taste only this is pretty good!’ Jacques added, nodding his appreciation before they moved onto Nicky.

‘Nicky!’ Nicole beamed, rubbing her hands together. ‘Lets see how you’ve interpreted the Thinker for our task!’

Nicky removed his screen, trying to stop his legs from shaking as he stepped back. ‘Nailed it!’

‘Wow!’ Nicole stepped back, blinking.

‘Nicky that is… amazing!’ Booker added, nodding at him with a smile.

‘Your proportions are exactly right- you even have his little hand up on his chin to show he is deep in thought. This is exactly what we wanted!’ Jacques affirmed, a wide smile on his face.

‘But, does it taste as good as it looks?’ Nicole said, picking up her fork and digging in.

‘Its….good. Not as much flavour, and the cake itself is a little denser….but all in all, not bad- what do you think Jacques?’

‘I think a little more vanilla could have been used, and the cake is a little overdone too. Its quite dry, but nothing a bit of buttercream won’t solve!’

‘I like it, it makes the sculpture taste more like stone!’ Booker laughed, dodging Nicky’s foot under the view of the camera as he avoided a swift kick in the shin. ‘No, in all seriousness, its good! I like the buttercream the best, very delicious!’

‘I’m glad, thank you,’ Nicky nodded, stepping back and allowing himself a deep, relieved breath. It was over- no more cakes to make.

‘And finally we come to Joe!’ Nicole smiled as they stopped at the final station. Joe grinned at her, his face holding a mischievous expression that told Booker all he needed to know.

‘How did it go?’ he asked teasingly, itching for Joe to reveal his cake.

‘Well….’ Joe replied, before removing his frosted glass cover with a flourish. ‘Nailed It!’

‘OH MYYY GOD!’ Nicole’s hands flew to her mouth as they took in the scene. The rice crispie treats, which were meant to represent the torso and head of the sculpture, instead sat in a squashed cube at the bottom. The cake, carved with what looked like an axe rather than a knife, sat atop the rice crispies, haphazardly placed on squishy piles of buttercream that were oozing out from the layers, splodging sadly on the plate.

‘What happened?!’ Booker gasped, wiping his eyes from laughing so much.

‘I misread the recipe,’ Joe explained, stifling a laugh of his own. ‘I thought the rice crispies were the bottom and the cake was the top, but by the time I realised I’d already cut the cake up, so….ta daaaa…’

‘Its original, I’ll give you that!’ Nicole laughed, before the three of them gathered up forkfuls of the cake. They chewed for a while, considering the cake in their mouths.

‘Its not bad! In fact, its more than not bad- I really like it!’ Nicole cried, nodding her head as Joe beamed across at her.

‘The sponge is lovely and fluffy, and the buttercream isn’t too sweet- it’s a delicate flavour.’

‘I think it tastes good!’ Booker added on from Jacques. ‘Too bad he looks like he’s going to collapse into himself at any second!’

‘I think we have a lot of consideration before we make our final decision, don’t you?’ Nicole turned to each of the other judges before they walked off, leaving the four bakers in their wake, wondering what the outcome was going to be.

* * *

‘Bakers!’ Nicole cried, clapping her hands together to get their attention a few minutes later as the music turned ominous. ‘We have made our decision!’

The bakers all looked at each other, hopeful expressions on each of their faces. But in the end, they knew that there was only one worthy winner…

‘And the winner, who will be getting the $10,000 dollar prize is…..’ Nicole took a deep breath.

‘NICKY!’ all three judged yelled in unison- there was a large bang and a barrage of glitter and shiny confetti fell from the ceiling atop their heads as Nicky stepped back, shocked and wide eyed as Booker held up a money-gun.

‘Enjoy your winnings, Nicky- you baked the best cake and it looked the most authentic!’ Nicole yelled as Booker pulled the trigger, sending notes flying at Nicky as he grinned broadly. He turned as Joe laughed and clasped his arms; he planted a kiss on his lips as the confetti rained down, covering all of them as music sounded deafeningly overhead.

‘Well that’s is for another episode of Nailed It!’ Nicole yelled into the camera with a broad smile. ‘I hope you enjoyed- now I’m going to go eat some caaaaaake!’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for reading!
> 
> Please let me know what you think!

**Author's Note:**

> Next chapter up really soon!
> 
> Thanks for reading my weird little offering- I have NO idea where it came from, but I hope it made you as happy reading it as it made me writing it!
> 
> Please leave a comment, I would love to know your thoughts!


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